Mobile and web applications are commonly based on multiple backend services. These are here to support the frontend of applications that we used to see to perform well. However, the time, cost, efforts, and resources required to develop a backend is never simple.

• Still, many of the organizations want to make their application development processes time and cost-effective. And that’s where an amazing BaaS provider comes into action. So that businesses can manage their application development processes more effectively.

Do you want to know more about BaaS? Let’s have a look at the information given below:

What is BaaS?

Backend as a Service aka BaaS is cloud-based solutions that are meant to cater backend services for developers.

• Backend as a Service solution is offering the simplest ways to connect your applications to pre-written, cloud-based services.
• Rather than utilizing a middleware, BaaS develops a unified SDK and API, which is meant to connect applications to various backend services including push notification, cloud storage, authentication, and more.

Key features of BaaS providers are including social network integration, location services, user management, push notifications, etc.

A Quick Comparison Between BaaS and Mobile Middleware

Generally, BaaS works differently than a mobile middleware, mainly because of its simplest backend processing approach. Also, both of these development approaches are different because of the way in which the frontend and backend of your apps are connected.

• Mobile Middleware

Mobile middleware is normally used for backend solutions’ integration with the frontend of any web and mobile applications via on-premises services. For this development approach, you have to set up and manage your own server and other hardware equipment.

• BaaS

While on the other side, BaaS is based on cloud services to offer similar kinds of backend solutions that you can use through mobile middleware. But these come up with off-site data centers. It means developers or organizations don’t have to spend a lot on managing their own hardware.

Key Features of BaaS

BaaS can offer its users an amazing opportunity to enjoy additional functionalities to provide ease and convenience in your application development processes. Typically, the core features of almost every Backend as a Service vendor are appealing for developers’ and organizations’ needs.

Even though the key features of a BaaS provider can be different in terms of purpose and scope. However, let’s have a look at the key BaaS features enlisted below to get a better idea about things in this regard:

• Social Networking Integration

Social networking integration is an important feature for apps that require social collaboration. Because this feature can let you connect applications via different social profiles with ease. Developers can also integrate some additional services upon their social networking integration such as social activity lists.

• Push Notifications

Push notifications are meant to ensure effective interaction between your applications and its users. When your users are not using your applications actively, push notifications are important. It is because these are going to help you to send alerts to your users regarding any type of change in the application.

• Search

Current applications come up with improved content discovery abilities. These can let application consumers to get context-appropriate content. Due to this, search features have become critical for multiple applications and almost every BaaS vendor is offering this functionality.

• Application Management

Generally, applications are being designed to access different information and data sets that aren’t available for consumers to access completely. However, the application management feature comes in handy when developers have to disable a certain functionality area for its specific consumers based on device types, user permissions, etc.

• Visual Development

This is one of the most amazing and effective BaaS features from the frontend perspective. Almost every backend as a service provider offers visual development controls to developers for effective management of their backend services.

Visual development controls are meant to make development processes easier.

App development and BaaS: What are its benefits?

Well, here are some of the most amazing benefits of BaaS that you can experience in your application development processes with ease. So, let’s have a look at these:

• BaaS is moving to the cloud-based application integration points successfully. This can help you in connecting your applications with the backend more easily. BaaS can offer you a drastic departure from the traditional approach of development in which each API is being added differently by developers.
• You can integrate backend services to the frontend via Baas with few resource requirements only.
• BaaS keeps developers from the hard work of hours on backend construction.
• You can enjoy extensive pre-written yet customizable backend solutions that are a must for modern applications.
• The major benefit of BaaS is that it can shift the focus of developers away from the backend complexities. So that they can get more time and energy to focus on improving user experience.
• The scalability of BaaS is an additional benefit. As you can stay stress-free from source allocation with increasing applications’ demand over time.

Who Is The BaaS Audience?

Indie developers and enterprises both are using BaaS. Both are using BaaS for multiple reasons such as to ease complexities of their backend development and for effective cross-platform development. Even more, if you are a JavaScript developer, still, you don’t have to be worried about your apps’ backend. Because BaaS can let you develop complete applications quickly by integrating pre-made backend functions.

Overall, developers and organizations are all-set to develop applications without investing plenty of time, cost and efforts at all.

Drawback of BaaS

BaaS is undoubtedly offering amazing services but it has a major drawback as well. Vendor lock-in is a major concern most developers used to face. Even though BaaS providers are offering app migration features but the migration process is pretty difficult.

Because you can’t migrate the backend of a particular vendor elsewhere. If you do, you will have to recreate connections between the frontend and backend.

Consequently, you have to spend a lot of time and effort in the process.

Top BaaS Providers

Baas market is thriving increasingly. However, a few BaaS providers are still on top. These are including:

• Back4app
• Firebase
• Parse
• Backendless

These are offering an amazing range of built-in backend services which can help developers to accelerate their app development processes in the best possible way.

Conclusion

BaaS is revolutionizing application development and management processes by providing high-quality cloud-based pre-made solutions. These can let developers save time, money, and efforts required for the development. Also, developers can get more time to focus on improving user experience.